this morning on "early today," the oddest of political odd couples come together for the campaign good. the campaign repercussions aren't lost in the moment. while millions deal with the effects of sandy, mitt romney continues to campaign in key battleground states. we've got brand new pole numbers. all that and our own brian williams goes home to battered point pleasant beach new jersey. >> announcer: this is "early today" for thursday, november 1st, 2012. good morning, i'm lynn berry. here is the very latest on sandy. at least 74 people in the u.s. are now dead as a result of

sandy. millions remain without power, and recovery isn't coming nearly fast enough. new jersey is just one of the places there are major gasoline shortages. people are waking up with canisters and walking up with canisters trying to get fuel. and further down the coast, take a look at cars lined up for blocks, if not miles. some people waited more than an hour for a chance to fill up. another big oil problem, a massive fuel leak at a tank facility. more than 300,000 gals of diesel crude spilled into the water separating new jersey from statin islands. containment booms are keeping the oil where it is. in connecticut, intense images as three mansions burned to the ground. firefighters couldn't save the homes because of the intensity of the situation as you can see. back to new jersey, at least 25% of hoboken remains under water. the national guard arrived there

but the mayor is begging for more assistance. we need more food. we need more resources so anyone who's listening to this in the city of hoboken or neighboring towns who can get to us, we ask you to come and deliver your supplies. in atlantic city president obama was met by new jersey governor chris christie. after the two leaders surveyed the damage along the jersey shore, the president vowed he wouldn't tolerate red tape. >> i've instituted a 15-minute rule essentially on my team. you return everybody's phone calls in 15 minutes, whether it's the mayor's, the governors, the county officials, if they need something, we figure out a way to say yes. >> during one of his stop, governor christie found more victims in utter despair. >> i just want everybody to get help. >> yeah. >> they don't deserve it. look at their house, our house,

everything is gone. >> yeah. >> i've never in ten years had water in my house. >> that's horrible. in new york the desperate race to get america's biggest city back up and running continues. water is being pumped out of the subway system. officials in new york and connecticut say the subway rail system that millions depend on will start returning today though on a very limited basis. and it is an amazing but eerie sight. much of the skyline of lower manhattan remains dark as the city enters the fourth day of a massive power outage. the flooding crisis from sandy goes beyond the east coast. these are pictures from cleveland, ohio, as the cuyahoga river deals with too much rain. and many residents on the new jersey shore say they plan to prepare and rebuild after the devastation from sandy as help slowly begins to arrive. nbc's danielle leigh is in toms river, new jersey, just one of the many places where people are waiting eagerly.

good morning to you, danielle. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. and the society is still cut off from those popular summertime vacation spots along the jersey shore. they sit there in utter devastation. all along the mainland, you can see constant reminders of the did he have va stigs, debris, people's homes sit littering the streets. yesterday in places like seaside heights, atlantic city, there were massive rescue efforts. in seaside heights, a door-to-door effort. lots of people have been brought to safety. we did get a chance to talk to some of those people yesterday and they described terrible scenes of sadness, streets filled with sand, homes ripped from their foundation. today many of the rescue efforts return towards restoration and addressing some of the safety issues over there. open gas leaks that have led to fires because of damage. as you know, many people are beginning a third day without power. they are getting anxious to try to get back to life as normal so

this recovery couldn't happen soon enough. reporting live, i'm danielle leigh. danielle, thanks so much. so many of you are asking how you can help during this crisis. one suggestion is to reach out to the red cross. here's how you do that, you can text the word red cross to 90999 and that will automatically give a $10 that will appear on your phone bill. you can also go to redcross.org and donate. you can donate blood in your hometown at a blood drive. check with your local red cross office. let's get a check of your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. it continues. >> yeah, 56 hours since landfall and this is when it starts getting really hard on people. the novelty of being in your house with kids, power, everything in the fridge is either you've eaten it or it's gone, based now. you saw people trying to get gas. a lot of people trying to get gas to keep their generators going.

the temperatures are also the issue. it is cold all through this region. it really wrapped in yesterday. it's kind of stuck there. we didn't warm up much during the daylight hours with the cloud cover. there are still some showers. it's tough for people to stay in their homes. a lot of people are trying to find somewhere else to go, 7, 8 million people without power. today's high temperatures not going to help you getting up to the mid 50s. there's no warm air in sight. it's november and this is when it gets colder in a hurry. we have rain out there especially in upstate new york, pittsburgh. most of these people have power. you can see the storm cranking out and it's across the border into canada. the cool air flows from the great lakes to the southeast. here's a look and a little bit of snow mixing in the high country in pittsburgh heading into the mountains of central pennsylvania and lake effect rain showers up here around buffalo. today's forecast, raw and cool up here in the deep chill as sandy pushes up into canada. that's a look at your national

forecast. now here's a look at the weather outside your window. today in new york city, about 56 degrees and partly cloudy. it will be a dry day. there's no rain in sight either. the good news for the power crews is they're going to have pretty much ideal conditions out there, low winds and no rain. of course, the next big forecast right around the corner, the election day forecast. i'll have that coming up. very important. bill, thanks so much. just 120 hours to go before election day. governor romney continues on the stump while president obama campaigns in three states today. also keeping an eye on recovering from sandy. plus, tea party favorite and former presidential candidate michele bachmann is fighting for her political life. those details next. you're watching "early today." >> announcer: brought to you by the makers of centrum men and women. have you taken the most complete multi-vitamitoday?

well, the campaign clock is ticking down, and with just

about 120 hours to go until election day, the polls show the candidates are still neck in neck. nbc's tracie pots has all the details for us from washington. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. the latest poll of the battleground states show a slight advantage for president obama, ahead by 6 in iowa, three in wisconsin, and just two, well within the margin of error in new hampshire. but this week he's really been focused on new jersey, touring the storm damage there with governor chris christie, a republican rival who has said repeatedly the president's done a great job responding to the storm. analysts say the president could be scoring some political points from that endorsement only from governor chris christie. meanwhile, governor romney making three campaign stops yesterday. today he'll focus on virginia. in florida he toned down his message. he didn't even mention president obama as he spoke to voters in

jacksonville last night and said he was criticizing the administration's record on small business. governor ejeb bush did talk abot the president and talked about some of his failures, as he put it, in office. meantime, we're looking at early voting resumed here in d.c. and maryland, but up in the flood ravaged areas of new jersey and new york as you're well aware, they're looking at a lot of different options to make sure people can actually get out to the polls on tuesday. lynn? tracie pots in washington, tracie, thanks. as we had mentioned, the obama christie meeting has been great. they've delivered biting comments about the other and now they're putting citizens above politics. it is interesting because just a few hours before their meeting former florida governor and romney supporter jeb bush had this to say on the stump. >> do you honestly think that this president is capable of bringing people together?

his entire strategy is to blame others, start with my brother, of course. basically he blames every possible thing rather than having the humility to be able to reach out and to find common ground. now something that should have been a lay-up for michele bachmann. she has a real fight on her hands. millionaire hotel executive jim graves is spending big time to take down the tea party favorite. the polls are tightening in the process. so here's an interesting tidbit that you can share with your friends. the total spending of the 2012 election will beat the previous record by $700 million. are you ready for this? the 2012 election spending will reach a whopping $6 billion. kind of makes your head spin. speaking of big bucks, this maryland man knows exactly when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. in fact, he's got over 8 million

reasons to prove it. everyone's wondering when's the next big storm. thankfully no time soon. also, that election day forecast. you're watching "early today."

stories making news this morning. the washington post reports that the obama administration has been in talks to build a new syrian opposition leadership to stop the violence from spreading across the middle east. the plan is also intended to prevent radical islamic fighters from taking control of the

opposition group. in south carolina income tax returns were targeted in the largest cyber attack against a state tax department in american history. more than 3 million social security numbers were compromised along with more than a million businesses and personal credit and debit cards. jerry sandusky, the former penn state assistant football coach and convicted child sexual predator has been transferred to a super max security prison near pittsburgh where he'll serve his sentence of 30 to 60 years. and the new world poker champ is a 24-year-old recovering drug addict and college dropout. greg merson of maryland is the new champ. he won on the 399th hand of texas hold 'em. look at that. collecting more than $8.5 million and a gold championship bracelet that's worth 150,000 bucks. looking cool with that stack of cash there. and now a look at how wall

street begins this thursday after sandy forced a shortened week of trading. the dough closed at 13,096 after losing ten points yesterday. the s&p was up a fraction but the nasdaq lost ten. 13, actually in overseas trading this morning, the nikkei gained 18 points while in hong kong the hang seng gained 18 o 0 gentleman markets ended october lower. there is some good news. they're all way up for 2012. the dough slid 2.5% last month but it's up more than 7% this year. the broader s&p down 2% in october, added 12.5% in the last ten months. the nasdaq "the biggest loser." it scored 14% in 2012. not surprisingly in sandy's wake home depot and lowe's were the biggest movers along with generac. fedex says shipments will be stored in their facilities and

you can check on your package status on feks ex-.com. netflix shot up on news of carl icon's ownership in the company. it was up more than 45%. ford rallied on frong ger earnings reported while markets were closed. likewise, gm so i remembered after blowing past earnings estimates. on the down side, apple shares slid and weighed down the nasdaq and, sorry, a.m. ex, your gold card has nothing on this, a new pure gold diamond and mother of pearl card from a bank in kazakhstan. the price, 100,000 big ones. shake your head at that. just ahead, how students in louisiana are making a difference in the wake of sandy. plus, our own brian williams gets a firsthand look at the devastation in his old stomping grounds, the "jersey shore." you're watching "early today."

well, welcome back to "early today" this november 1st. the cool air has invaded behind sandy. that's going to stick with the areas that don't have power. pretty quiet weather forecast across the country. there's really no big storms in sight today. even tomorrow looks relatively drank will. just a few showers rolling through the northern plains. let's fast forward to election day. we've been focusing on the swing states. thankfully it looks like the storm will be a coastal storm heading out to sea avoiding areas without the power.

there's a weak wintery mix that could be coming down for minnesota, iowa, wisconsin. we'll be watching those in the days ahead, lynn. bill, thanks so much. hurricane sandy has left behind a trail of sadness for the lives and property lost in its wake. nbc's brian williams spent part of childhood growing up near the beaches of the jersey shore. yesterday he went back to assess the damage. >> reporter: in point pleasant beach the white sands motel has been in business for 30 years. the pool is full of sand. this is what's left of one of the motel rooms. another shore landmark is jeng kin son's on the board walk, jengs as the locals call it where cindy krause rode out the store in the local a care rum she runs. >> we heard a huge whoosh and within seconds it went up to the doorknob. >> reporter: the power is still out but they're keeping the animals safe and alive with one

generator. of course, it's supposed to be a little scary. you have the halloween decorations. >> that's right. >> reporter: these are real scary. these are the most famous penguins on the jersey shore. >> they're all right. >> reporter: the damage is dramatic. inland there's street flooding, trees have been ripped from the ground. jack and sharon cathguard who have lived here for a long time spent the day washing and drying their clothes outside. >> i wanted to go and she said she wanted to stay. i said, if my wife stays, i have to stay because she's my wife. >> reporter: there are blight spots to be seen like the one we witnessed when we passed by bill mull lins who was having his own flag raising ceremony on his front yard. blocks away from the atlantic ocean, bill mullins feels lucky to live here. >> i don't think you can quantify it. we're blessed to be this close to the ocean. it's a double edged sword of

course but i think for all the good beings, absolutely worth the bad. >> that's an interesting perspective. his house survived compared to some of the other damage. when you see all of this rebuilding that's going to be coming. >> it's strange. again, it's so personal. for brian williams, as a kid growing up there, firefighter near there. i mean, it's personal for a lot of us. >> a lot of us. this comes to us from ktal nbc 6 in shreveport, louisiana, where memories of hurricane katrina are inspiring one high school to come to the aid of hurricane sandy victims. help is on the way. that is the message being sent by airline high students and faculty. the group is on a mission to send this semi-trailer stocked with canned food, blankets, and other helpful items to the atlantic coast where it will be much appreciated. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

and now from washington's leading news station this is "news4 today." >> extra firefighters called jofr night to battle a massive fire in middle east washington. i'm eun yang. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. welcome to "news4 today." the fire started at fourth and morris street and then it rekindleed th e rekindled this morning. megan mcgrath is on the scene. >> reporter: this was a very tough fire to get under control. there were a couple of instance

where is they actually had to pull their firefighters out of the building because they were concerned about possible collapses, so they had to back out a little bit and change their strategy until it was safe to allow their personnel close to the building. i'll step out of the way so that you can get a better idea. you can see that there's still quite a presence here on the scene. a lot of emergency vehicles still here on the scene. let's take a look at the video shot last night and overnight and you can see just how large this fire was. we're here at the union market. this is a series of vendors here, many of the wholesale meat venn do vendors, also some suit vendors. not sewer exactly what started this fire. they thought they had a handle on it for a while and then it flared up again, and that was